The Global Volcanism Program has no Weekly Reports available for Quilotoa.

The Global Volcanism Program has no Bulletin Reports available for Quilotoa.

This compilation of synonyms and subsidiary features may not be comprehensive. Features are organized into four major categories: Cones, Craters, Domes, and Thermal Features. Synonyms of features appear indented below the primary name. In some cases additional feature type, elevation, or location details are provided.

Synonyms

Quirotoa | Quilatoa

Basic Data

Volcano Number

Last Known Eruption

Elevation

LatitudeLongitude

352060

1280 CE

3914 m / 12841 ft

0.85°S
78.9°W

Volcano Types

Caldera Lava dome(s)

Rock Types

MajorDacite

MinorAndesite / Basaltic Andesite

Tectonic Setting

Subduction zoneContinental crust (> 25 km)

Population

Within 5 kmWithin 10 kmWithin 30 kmWithin 100 km

40,429
40,429
124,306
4,333,779

Geological Summary

Quilotoa is a truncated, dacitic cone that is the westernmost of Ecuador's Andean volcanoes. It is located at the margin of the Western Cordillera, 35 km WNW of the city of Latacunga and contains a 3-km-wide caldera with steep-sided walls that rise 400 m above the surface of 240-m-deep caldera lake. More than a half dozen lava domes form an circular array along the caldera's perimeter. This small volcano has produced eight major explosive eruptions during the past 200,000 years. Its most recent major eruption about 800 radiocarbon years ago produced voluminous pyroclastic flows, lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and one of the largest airfall-tephra deposits of the northern Andes. Formation of the caldera was followed by extrusion of a small lava dome. Reports of historical eruptions from the caldera lake are somewhat ambiguous. Fumaroles are present on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the E flank.

References

The following references have all been used during the compilation of data for this volcano, it is not a comprehensive bibliography.

Deformation History

There is no Deformation History data available for Quilotoa.

Emission History

There is no Emissions History data available for Quilotoa.

Photo Gallery

Quilotoa is a truncated, forested dacitic cone containing a steep-walled, 3-km-wide caldera filled by a 250-m-deep lake. Lava domes form the caldera's perimeter and occupy its floor. Its most recent large eruption about 800 years ago produced voluminous pyroclastic flows, lahars that reached the Pacific Ocean, and one of the largest airfall-tephra deposits of the northern Andes. Reports of historical eruptions from the caldera lake are somewhat ambiguous. Fumaroles are present on the lake floor and hot springs occur on the eastern flank.

Photo by Minard Hall, 1973 (Escuela Politécnica Nacional, Quito).

GVP Map Holdings

The Global Volcanism Program has no maps available for Quilotoa.

Smithsonian Sample Collections Database

External Sites

Middle InfraRed Observation of Volcanic Activity (MIROVA) is a near real time volcanic hot-spot detection system based on the analysis of MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) data. In particular, MIROVA uses the Middle InfraRed Radiation (MIR), measured over target volcanoes, in order to detect, locate and measure the heat radiation sourced from volcanic activity.

Using infrared satellite Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data, scientists at the Hawai'i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai'i, developed an automated system called MODVOLC to map thermal hot-spots in near real time. For each MODIS image, the algorithm automatically scans each 1 km pixel within it to check for high-temperature hot-spots. When one is found the date, time, location, and intensity are recorded. MODIS looks at every square km of the Earth every 48 hours, once during the day and once during the night, and the presence of two MODIS sensors in space allows at least four hot-spot observations every two days. Each day updated global maps are compiled to display the locations of all hot spots detected in the previous 24 hours. There is a drop-down list with volcano names which allow users to 'zoom-in' and examine the distribution of hot-spots at a variety of spatial scales.

Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) Data Services map showing the location of seismic stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 0.18° (about 20 km at mid-latitudes) from the given location of Quilotoa. Users can customize a variety of filters and options in the left panel. Note that if there are no stations are known the map will default to show the entire world with a "No data matched request" error notice.

Geodetic Data Services map from UNAVCO showing the location of GPS/GNSS stations from all available networks (permanent or temporary) within a radius of 20 km from the given location of Quilotoa. Users can customize the data search based on station or network names, location, and time window.

The DECADE portal, still in the developmental stage, serves as an example of the proposed interoperability between The Smithsonian Institution's Global Volcanism Program, the Mapping Gas Emissions (MaGa) Database, and the EarthChem Geochemical Portal. The Deep Earth Carbon Degassing (DECADE) initiative seeks to use new and established technologies to determine accurate global fluxes of volcanic CO2 to the atmosphere, but installing CO2 monitoring networks on 20 of the world's 150 most actively degassing volcanoes. The group uses related laboratory-based studies (direct gas sampling and analysis, melt inclusions) to provide new data for direct degassing of deep earth carbon to the atmosphere.

WOVOdat is a database of volcanic unrest; instrumentally and visually recorded changes in seismicity, ground deformation, gas emission, and other parameters from their normal baselines. It is sponsored by the World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO) and presently hosted at the Earth Observatory of Singapore.

EarthChem develops and maintains databases, software, and services that support the preservation, discovery, access and analysis of geochemical data, and facilitate their integration with the broad array of other available earth science parameters. EarthChem is operated by a joint team of disciplinary scientists, data scientists, data managers and information technology developers who are part of the NSF-funded data facility Integrated Earth Data Applications (IEDA). IEDA is a collaborative effort of EarthChem and the Marine Geoscience Data System (MGDS).